Rotary engine.



No. 7||,730. Pate nted Oct. ll, 1902.

A. A. METHV EN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

(Application filed Mar. 19, 1900.)

i (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

lNVENTOR Awsus A. METHVEN v H \S ATTORN ENS.

No. 71:330. v I Patented Oct. 2|, |902.=-

A. A. METHVEN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

I (Application filed Mar. 19, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

INVEN'TOR ANGUS A. METHYEN Ht; AT-TORNEYGLY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANGUS A. METI-IVEN, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 711,730, dated October21, 1902. Application filed March 19,1990. Serial No. 9,181. (No model.)

To allwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANGUS A. METHVEN, of Minneapolis, Hennepin county,Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Im- 5 provements inRotary Engines, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to engines of the 1:0- tary type; and the primaryobject of the invention is to dispense with all springs in connectionwith the revolving piston and provide an engine wherein the expansiveforce or power of the steam admitted thereto is fully utilized.

A further object is to provide an engine wherein the admission'of steamis automat= ically controlled by the speed of the engine.

A further object is to provide a rotary engine that is also adapted foruse as a Water-motor and, with slight modifications, as a pump.

Theinvention consists generallyin various constructions andcombinations, all as hereinafter described, and particularly pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure1 is a side elevation of a rotary engine embodying my invention. Fig; 2is a sectional view on the line a: w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a verticalsection showing the interior of the cylinder and the piston therein.Fig. 4. is a'sectional View on the line 5 .2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an endview of the piston. Fig. 6 is a sectional view on the line y y of Fig.5. mechanism for controlling the supply of steam to the cylinder. Fig.Sis a similar view of the same part standing in a different position.

In the drawings, 2 represents the cylinder, supported upon suitable legsor standards 3 and having in one head the bearing-box 4 to receive theend of the trunnion or stub-shaft 5, provided on one section or member 6of the piston. The other section or member 7 of the piston correspondsto themember 6 and is socured thereto by bolts, as shown in Fig. 5, orin any other suitable way,and both members are provided with radialslots 8, which register and are adapted to receive the sliding wingmember, hereinafter described. The section 7 of the piston is providedwith a shaft 9, extending through a stuffing-box 10 in the head of thecylinder, and projects for a consider- Fig. 7 is a detail of the abledistance beyond said head and is supported atits outer end in hearingson a bracket 10. Near the outer end of said shaft I prefer to provide adriving-pulley 11.

The members or sections of the piston are preferably disk-like in form,and the piston is mounted ecoentrically within the cylinder, as shown inFig. 3, and is adapted to slide or roll therein, bearing upon a smallsection or portion only of the inner surface of the cylinder, which, asshown, is provided with an 7 irregular track'or cam-surface 12. Withinthe piston I' prefer to provide a sliding Wing section or member havinga shank 13 slidable in a slot 14 between the radial slots 8, said shankbeing provided at each end with wings 15, that are slidable in the slots8 and reciprocate therein as the piston is revolved. The heads havebeveled ends 16, which engage the cam-surface of the cylinder and slideover the same and are alternately moved in and out within the slots 8 asthe piston rolls or revolves within the cylinder. The wing member formsa close sliding joint with the sections of the piston, so that the steamcannot pass through the piston from one side to the other. The cylinder,although having an inner irregular or cam surface over which the ends ofthe sliding wing travels, is never- 1 theless of substantially the samediameter at all points, and consequently an equal portion of the wing orplate surface will be exposed to the pressure of the steam at all pointsof its travel, and the stroke of the piston will thereby be renderedsmooth and regular. In the lower wall of the cylinder I provide anexhaust-port 17, leading to an exhaust-pipe 18, and in the side wall ofthe cylinder I provide a steam-inlet port 19 and a conical valve 20,having a reciprocating or rocking movement on its seat. This valve ispreferably hollow and provided with a port 21, adapted to register withthe port 19 and is open at one end to communicate with the steam-supplypipe 22. The valve being conicalin form, the pressure of steam withinits interior will hold it firmly against the walls of-the valve-casingand prevent the leakage of steam around the valve-stem or into thecylinder through the inlet-port when the valve is closed. The valve-stem23 projects through a suitable packing-box and is provided with an armor lever 24. When the valve is turned so that the port therein willregister with the inletport of the cylinder, the steam rushing in willengage the projecting wing on the upper side of the piston and set theengine in motion. As the wing member will slide for a considerabledistance over the surface of the cylinder before reaching theexhaust-port the full expansive force of the steam will be utilized anda considerable economy effected in the operation of the engine. As soonas the protruding end or head of the wing member has passed theexhaust-port it will engage that portion of the surface upon which thepiston bears and be thrust thereby back into its socket in the piston,while the opposite end of the wing member will be projected acorresponding distance on the opposite side of the piston.

From the construction of the valve it will be noted that each time it isrocked the steam will be alternately admitted into the cylinder and cutoff therefrom, and I arrange the inlet-portand the valve-portregistering therewith, so that both ports will be open to admit steamwhen the wing member has passed the inlet-port on its upstroke and is inposition to be engaged and driven forward by the pressure of theincoming steam.

On one head of the cylinder I provide a bracket 25, supporting acentrifugal governor 26, the stem 27 of which is provided with a beveledpinion 28, engaging a similar pinion 29 on a horizontal shaft 30, alsopreferably supported on said bracket. The shaft 30 is driven by a belt31 from the driving-shaft 9.

In order that, the supply of steam to the engine, and hence its speed,may be regulated, I prefer to provide a bell-crank 32, pivoted on thecylinder and having one arm in engagement with a grooved wing 33 on thegovernor-stem and its other arm provided with alongitudinalslot 34 toreceive a pin 35, providedon a block 36, that is slidably arranged onthe arm or lever 24. On the driving-shaft 9 I provide a disk or plate37, having in its surface anirregular or cam track 38, wherein anantifriction-roller 39 on the block 36 is adapted to travel.

As shownin Figs. 7 and 8, the track38 is thesamelupon, each side of theplate. 37, so

that the steam-valve will be rocked the same distance, from each end ofthe sliding wing with. eachrevolution of the piston. The full lines inFig. 7 represent the position of the lever 24 when the valve is closedand the dotted lines represent theposition of thelever whenthe valve isopen and the position. of the sliding block on said lever regulates themovement or stroke of thevalve, and-hence thevolume of steam that isadmitted. to the cylinder. If the speed of the engine is increasedbeyondthe desired number of revolotions-as, for instance, when theengine is relieved of its load-the governor will slide the ring 33 downon the governor-stem and,

through the medium of the bell-crank 32, slide the cylinder.

the block toward the outer end of the lever 24, so that the revolutionof the plate 37 will only partially open the steam-valve, and thusdecrease the volume of steam admitted to If the speed of the enginedrops below the desired point, the sliding block will be moved in on thelever 24 and the movement of thelever and valve will be correspondinglyincreased, opening the inletport wider and allowing more steam to enterthe cylinder. When the roller 39 enters the curved regular portion ofthe track at the end of the plate 37, the lever 24 will be raised to theposition indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7, should the sliding blockbe in the position on said lever as indicated in said figure.

If the speed of, the engine has risen above the desired limit, thesliding block will be near the outer end of the lever24, as shown :inFig. 8, the valve will be. partially opened 1 only, and when closed thelever 24 will be in the position indicated by dotted lines in saidfigure. The supply of steam to the cylinder is thus automaticallycontrolled by the speed of the engine, which is of course commensurateto the work it hasto do.that is, if the engine is working under a heavyload, a greater volume of steam will be admitted to the cylinder to keepup the speed of the rerevolving piston and when the engine is relievedof its load the steamwill begradually cut off and. racing of the engineprevented.

While I have shown and described the device as adapted for use as asteam-engine, it may be used as a water-motor with equally good results.

When the apparatus is used as awater-motor, I may dispense with thevalve-controlling the admission of water or, steaminto the cylinder,providing, however, somesuitable device for controlling thewater-supply. The cut-off. device that is connected with thegovernor-may, of course, be dispensedwith.

I may prefer to provide a cylinder of sub stantially double the widthofthe one shown herein and provideapiston correspondingly increased inwidth or thickness and; having duplicate wings or sliding plates thatoperate in the'same direction alternately-that is,

when one wingengages the wallet the cylinder and slidesinone directionthe other wing will engage the opposite wall and slide inthe otherdirection. The two wings will thus balance each other and canseltheengineto run easily and smoothly, eliminating all jarring andshakingthatis incidentto theuseof a single sliding wing. I regardthisconstruction as .a duplication of whatI have already shown and donot, therefore, consider an .illustration necessary. I

The apparatus may be readily adapted for use as a pump, in which case Ishould prefer to use the exhaust-port as an inlet and the presentinlet-port as an outlet, making it considerably larger than the inlet. Imay also prefer to increase the number of wings, providing an additionalone in the piston substantially at right angles to the one shown anddescribed herein. The details of construction which I have shown may bemodified in Various ways without departing from my in vention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent 1. The combination, with the cylinder having inlet andexhaust ports, of a revolving piston arranged therein, a cam plate ordisk mounted upon said shaft, a conical valve having a port adapted toregister with said inletport, an arm or lever provided on the stem ofsaid valve, a block slidable on said arm and having a roller adapted totravel on said camplate, a centrifugal governor and means connectingsaid governor and said sliding block, whereby the movement of said valveis regulated and the steam passing through said inlet-portcontrolled,substantially as described.

2. In a rotary engine, the combination, with a cylinder, of a pistontherein, a shaft therefor, avalve adapted to control the admission ofsteam to said cylinder, a disk connected with said shaft and having anirregular path or track, a lever connected with said valve, a rolleradapted to travel in the path on said disk and having a slidingconnection with said lever, and a centrifugal governor for controllingthe movement of said roller with respect to said lever and therebyregulating the operation of said valve and the admission of steam tosaid cylinder, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a cylinder having inlet and'outlet ports, of arevolving piston arranged therein, a shaft therefor, a cam plate or diskmounted upon said shaft, a rotary valve adapted to control the admissionof steam to said cylinder, a lever provided on the stem of said valve, ablock slidable on said lever, a suitable connection provided betweensaid block and said cam-plate,a centrifugal governor, and meansconnecting said governor and said block, whereby as the speed increasesor decreases said block will be moved along said lever and the valveclosed or opened, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a cylinder,having an inlet-port 19 and anexhaust-port 17, of a rotary valve 20 adapted to close said inletport,means for automatically operating said valve to close or open said port,a piston pro vided in said cylinder and comprising two sections ormembers, said sections having radial slots and an intermediatecommunicating slot, a single Wing member or section having a shankportion to slide in said communicating slot and head members to slide insaid radial slots and alternately engage the walls of saidcylinder,substantially as described.

5. In a rotary engine, the combination,with a cylinder, of a pistontherein, a shaft there for, a rotary valve adapted to control theadmission of steam to said cylinder, a disk provided on said shaft andhaving a cam track or path on its surface, a lever provided on the stemof said valve, a block slidable thereon and engaging said cam-track, acentrifugal governor, and means connecting said governor and said blockwhereby the admission of steam to said cylinder may be automaticallyregulated, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, of arevolving piston within said cylinder having communicating radial slotsin its opposite sides, a wing member or section slidably arranged insaid slots and adapted to alternately engage the walls of said cylinder,a rotary cut-0E valve for.

regulating the admission of steam through said inlet-port, a leverprovided on the stem of said valve, a block slidable on said lever, anda centrifugal-governor mechanism connected with said block, whereby asthe speed increases or decreases said block will be moved along saidlever and said cut-off valve opened or closed.

7. The combination, with a cylinder having inlet and exhaust ports, of arevolving piston within said cylinder, a wing member or section slidablyarranged in slots in said piston and having ends adapted to alternatelyengage the walls of said cylinder, a rotary cutoff valve for controllingthe admission of steam through said inlet-port, a lever for said valve,a cam-disk provided on the shaft of said piston, a roller adapted totravel on said disk and having a sliding connection with said lever, anda centrifugal governor for controlling the movement of said roller withrespect to said lever, thereby regulating the operation of said valveand the admission of steam to said cylinder. 1

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 15th day of March,1900.

- ANGUS A. METI-IVEN.

In presence of RICHARD PAUL, M. O. NOONAN.

